Innovation drives the global economy, so it’s easy to see why cities strive to brand themselves as innovation hubs. Chicago’s no exception. The 1871 incubator and UI Labs are here, and this city is home to web winners like Groupon and GrubHub. But Chicago wants more.

So does Gov. Bruce Rauner. He’s pushing hard for an innovation center in the South Loop that would parlay the University of Illinois’ expertise into learning and research that spawns breakthroughs, start-ups and — according to the governor’s office — as much as $4 billion in yearly venture capital investment.

The Discovery Partners Institute would put under one roof professors, students and companies to collaborate and ultimately commercialize what they create. Among the center’s subject areas: computing and big data, food and agriculture, and health. Related Midwest, the developer that owns 62 acres of prime vacant South Loop land along the Chicago River, has offered to donate part of its property for the center.

At the core of Rauner’s pitch is an “everyone wins” message. U. of I.’s Urbana-Champaign campus, 140 miles to the south, would get a long-coveted major footprint in Chicago. Tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and innovators would get an environment in which to nurture their creativity. Companies would get a new wellspring of smart ideas they can turn into commerce.

The big question: How to pay for it?

There’s no price tag yet, but Rauner has talked of using proceeds from the sale of the Loop’s Thompson Center. He thinks the building would fetch $300 million, minus $60 million to buy out leases of existing tenants.

That financing approach has run into a brick wall called Michael Madigan. The Democratic House speaker’s team says Thompson Center proceeds are already spoken for in this year’s state budget. Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesman, also told the Tribune’s Dawn Rhodes there’s no agreement on using state money for the institute “in part because there was sort of a lack of detail about exactly how the state funds might be utilized.”

The Related Companies

An artist's rendering shows a potential design for the Discovery Partners Institute (at center), an innovation center led by the University of Illinois. Chicago developer Curt Bailey has agreed to donate land from his 62-acre parcel along the Chicago River, south of Roosevelt Road. (Related Midwest)

An artist's rendering shows a potential design for the Discovery Partners Institute (at center), an innovation center led by the University of Illinois. Chicago developer Curt Bailey has agreed to donate land from his 62-acre parcel along the Chicago River, south of Roosevelt Road. (Related Midwest)

(The Related Companies)

Legislation to permit the sale of the Thompson Center is a long way from the governor’s desk, anyway. It’s hard to imagine he can find state funding elsewhere: On the same day Rauner’s dream made front page headlines, the Tribune reported his plans to slash $200 million from the state budget, which remains $1.5 billion out of balance.

Rauner says he has commitments from donors for private funds for the institute. On Thursday, his office issued a statement saying the institute would be financed “primarily from private resources, though he hopes to convince state and local officials to invest in the program as well.”

We hope and expect that such support would be limited, and not just because the state is in a financial hole. Companies that would benefit from the creativity flowing from a new innovation hub should be eager to invest in it.

If they’re not, then that should be a big red flag.

There’s nothing wrong and everything right about forging Chicago’s identity as a hub for innovation. After all, what does innovation yield? Creative energy, revenue and jobs — three things cities need to thrive. U. of I. in Urbana-Champaign is a tech know-how powerhouse, but it’s too far away from Chicago to generate a tech community of its own. In 2015, the Tribune reported that the U. of I. produces more engineering graduates than any American school except for the Georgia Institute of Technology. Yet fewer than half of them stay in Illinois.

That’s a talent drain that needs fixing. Who better to fix it than the companies that are desperate to hire those homegrown engineers?